70 
Indian Forest Records. 
[Voi,. VIII 
In addition to these, there are small centres at Gondia (C. P.), Chakar- 
darpur (Singbhum), Chandel (Manbhum), Purulia (Manbhum), Dalton- 
ganj (Palamau), and Maihar (C. I.) ; and small factories frequently 
appear and disappear in any small town or village in the lac areas. 
The production of lac has developed faster in Bihar and Orissa than 
in the Central Provinces. In fact Bihar and Orissa is now capable 
of manufacturing the whole of its raw lac and imports large quantities 
from the Central Provinces. Manufacture in the Central Provinces 
has hitherto developed very little, and the stimulus recently given to 
lac cultivation in those Provinces should be turned to useful account 
by local manufacturers. Almost any railway station on the Bengal- 
Nagpur broad gauge line would seem to provide a suitable locality for 
a factory. The climate is dry during the greater part of the year and 
the manufacturer will only need to consider the question of water- 
supply and labour. Raipur in particular is very close to a large 
Kusum supply area at Rajim and Dhamtari ; it is in easy communi¬ 
cation with Gondia, Katni (including Damoh) and Pendra, all large 
Baisakhi and Katki markets, and is only a few miles further from 
Calcutta than is Mirzapur. Labour is plentiful and cheap though 
skilled labour must, of course, be imported from Mirzapur until local 
labour can be trained. 
The bulk of the shellac manufactured is known as TN. This 
mark is a standard of the trade and is non¬ 
proprietary. It has been in existence for 
a long time—so long indeed that its origin cannot now be accurately 
traced. The following derivations have been suggested, the first of 
which is the most probable :— 
(1) That it was originally the mark of Taluram Naturam, manu¬ 
facturer of Belarpur. 
(2) That it was originally the mark of Triloki Nath, Bengali. 
(3) America suggests that it stands for “Truly Native.” This 
seems very unlikely. 
Though it is a universally recognized standard the quality of TN 
is not fixed, but varies from year to year with the quality of the 
stick-lac crops from which it is manufactured ; and the London 
market makes its own standard each year from the first few ship¬ 
ments. TN as such is pure shellac with a limit of 3 per cent, 
insoluble impurities. It contains no rosin. Rosinous shellac is sold 
[ 70 ] 
